1. Technical Field
This invention relates generally to liquid dispensing and more particularly, to combining and dispensing liquids in a time efficient manner.
2. Background Art
In the maintenance of large buildings such as office buildings or stores in shopping centers, it is customary to mix the required cleaning agents from a source of concentrate with water such as by employing an aspirator. The resulting solutions are then filled into suitable containers such as bottles or buckets. An apparatus of this type is available from Johnson Wax Professional of Sturtevant, Wis., as the Select AG. For chemical dispensing apparatus of this type, there are applications when a high flow rate (4 gpm or greater) is desired to deliver ready to use product, such as when filling a bucket or an auto-scrubber. However, a low flow rate (2 gpm or less) is desired when filling spray bottles. Current systems such as the Select AG dispensing apparatus and Quick Fill units available from Ecolab Inc. of St. Paul, Minn., are designed to fill either buckets or bottles from the same concentrate bottle through the dispenser but have a fixed, intermediate flow rate (i.e., 2.5 gpm). Other systems such as the Twist"" n Fill available from the 3M Company and Outpost available from The Butcher Company, Inc. of Marlborough, Mass. can vary the flow rate, but they require two different concentrate bottles (high flow bottle/low flow bottle) of the same product to accomplish this function.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,443,094 and 5,505,382 both disclose dispensing systems with aspirators and valves in the liquid inlet lines.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,305,986 there is disclosed a fluid control valve having two bores which allows for selective change of flow rate of fluid through the valve. The disclosed valve is designed for high temperature and pressure use.
The prior art does not provide a high and low flow rate dispensing apparatus which can deliver a high and low flow rate from a single concentrate source.
The objects of the invention therefore are:
a) Providing an improved liquid mixing and dispensing apparatus;
b) Providing a liquid mixing and dispensing apparatus which allows for different flow rates from the same product bottle;
c) Providing a liquid mixing and dispensing apparatus of the foregoing kind which can efficiently fill both large containers such as a bucket or an auto-scrubber and a small container such as a bottle;
d) Providing a liquid mixing and dispensing apparatus of the foregoing kind which can be easily retrofitted to a currently used dispensing apparatus;
e) Providing a liquid mixing and dispensing apparatus of the foregoing kind which allows for variation of the low flow rate.
The foregoing objects are accomplished and shortcomings of the prior art are overcome by the liquid mixing and dispensing apparatus of this invention which in one aspect includes a support member, at least one container placed on the support member, an eductor in fluid communication with the container, a valve member, a liquid intake conduit member connected to the valve member and the eductor, a flow control valve connected to the liquid intake conduit member, the control valve having a first bore constructed and arranged to provide a first flow rate and a second bore constructed and arranged to provide a second flow rate lower than the first flow rate, at least one of the bores includes a liquid metering device, a liquid product supply line operatively connected to the container and a liquid product intake of the eductor, a closure member connected to each container and the liquid supply line, and a liquid outlet line operatively connected to the eductor.
In a preferred embodiment, the second bore is smaller than the first bore.
In another preferred embodiment, the second bore includes the liquid metering device.
In another aspect, the second bore is adaptable to receiving at least two metering devices having different flow patterns.
In yet another aspect, a housing for the control valve has a passage with a liquid metering device positioned in the passage.
In still another aspect, a liquid metering device is positioned in both of the bores.
In still yet another aspect, the dispensing apparatus includes a multiplicity of containers, valve members and eductors.
These and still other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the description which follows. In the detailed description below a preferred embodiment of the invention will be described in reference to the full scope of the invention. Rather, the invention may be employed in other embodiments.